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Robert Leckie
Private First Class Robert Leckie is one of the three main characters of The Pacific, as well as a marine in the 1st Marine Division History Leckie was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on December 18, 1920 to an Irish Catholic family of eight children. He grew up in Rutherford, New Jersey. He began his professional writing career, before World War II, at age 16 as a sports writer for The Record of Hackensack in Hackensack. In 1941, the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Leckie enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. He served in combat in the Pacific theater, as a scout and a machine gunner in the 1st Marine Division. Leckie is first seen in the series prior to his time in the marines talking to his neighbor and possible love interest, Vera Keller. Battle of the Tenaru He is later seen in a navy ship with his friends Pfc. Wilbur "Runner" Conley, Pfc. Lew "Chuckler" Juergens, Pfc. Ronnie Gibson, and Pfc. Bill "Hoosier" Smith, as well as teamate Pfc. Sidney "Sid" Phillips He is then seen landing on the shores of Guadalcanal with the rest of the 1st Marine Division, strangely, with no resistance. He later participates in the Battle of the Tenaru with his unit, in what his friend Chuckler later decribes as a turkey shoot, which he suspected from the beginning. Leckie is later seen greeting the 1st Battlion, 7th Marines along with the rest of his unit. Later in Gudalcanal Leckie is later seen reading one of his letters to Vera aloud to his friends. He is then seen eating peaches that he stole from an Army division that always had more food, water, and any other essentials than the 1st Marine Division. He was not the first one who stole from the division. Leckie is given the nickname "Peaches" by Runner who was suffering form the runs at that time. Later that night, Leckie and the others participate in another battle, where they emege victorious. They get on a navy ship destined for Melbourne where a crewman tells them that the Division is regarded as being heroes for their part in Guadalcanal. Melbourne Leckie and his friends are later seen in Melbourne, where many of the marines have gone AWOL, including Leckie and all of his friends save for Runner, who wanted to catch some extra sleep. Leckie later bumps into an Austrailian girl named Stella, whom he dates and stays with her family during his time in Melbourne. They bond and fall in love during this time. Leckie later talks with Stella's religious and caring mother, watched by Stella. Stella's mother then promises Leckie that he will pray that he will return after the war. Leckie later returns from a long and tiring walk with the marines to Stella's house to find Stella waiting there. Stella tells him that since he might not come back, he shouldn't for her mom's sake. Leckie leaves, crushed, promising to never come back, and he drowns his sorrows in alchohol, later finding Chuckler who desperately needed to take a piss. Chuckler unwisely hands guard duty to Leckie, and the latter later tries to beat up a superior officer, landing both him and Chuckler in jail, though no tension is shown. Leckie and Chuckler are later released, and Leckie is transferred to intelligence. Cape Gloucester Leckie is later part of the Battle of Cape Gloucester, where he experiences a harsh enviornment, as well as a harsh new officer. He continues to write letters to Vera, and later, during a patrol, he finds a box that once belonged to a Japanese officer that contained a Japanese pistol among other things. This box is later stolen by the offcer, who he later steals his pistol back from, causing a confrontation between the two. He later finds out that he accidentally pissed his pants, and he goes to a medic to find out that he had nocturnal enurisis. There was nothing he could do about it in Cape Gloucester, however, and he kept pissing in his sleep. At some point, he finds Canadian transfer, Lebec shooting himself in the mouth in an act of suicide. Pavavu/Banika When they get to Pavavu, Leckie is inducted into a hospital in the neighboring island of Banika. While there, he finds Gibson, who is incarcerated for trying to steal a plane. He later gets out of the hospital with the help of the head doctor, handing over his pistol as a bribe. While he is leaving, he talks with Gibson, who has clearly been traumatized and disturbed by his experiences. As Leckie walks out, Gibson tells him that he hopes that his death will be swift. Leckie then leaves to find his friends playing a game outside. Prior to Peleliu Leckie later meets a replacement, who is none other than Eugene Sledge. Leckie then gives his opinion on religion, basically that if God cared about them, why is he letting the war happen? Sledge replies that God does not need to. Leckie then tries to sell Sledge a bible, the latter whom already has a pocket sized one. Peleliu Landing Leckie later participates in the Battle of Peleliu, where he finds many horrible things. Hoosier gets hit in the side at one time, but as of this moment, Leckie doesn't know what happened to him. Leckie could not find Chuckler during the assault. Fortunately, Runner catches up to Leckie unscathed, the latter whom tells Runner that Hossier got hit. They are later seen in a foxhole alone, with Runner sleeping, but Leckie laying awake. Peleliu Airfield Leckie later participates in the Airfield assault, where he sees many marines get killed in the process. Runner gets shot, but not too seriously, and Leckie goes to get a corpsman and a radio operator who just died of his wounds. During his fruitless search, he is knocked back by an explosion where the impact wounds him badly, but he survives, and he later finds Runner with his arm in a sling, who forgives him for not finding a corpsman during the battle. Leckie is then seen taking a last look at Peleliu before his boat leaves to take him home. Home Leckie won't be seen again until the final episode, where he will try to adjust to normal life. Trivia *Out of all three of the main characters, Leckie is the one who has the most major appearences. *His best friends are Runner, Chuckler, and Hoosier. Runner is the only one confirmed to have survived along with Leckie thus far. *Leckie died in 2001, the same year that The Pacific's predesescor, Band of Brothers was released. See Also Wilbur Conley Lew Juergens Bill Smith Sidney Phillips Category:Characters Category:Marines